Buganda Road Chief Magistrate James Mawanda Weenie has set December 19 as the date at which he will deliver a ruling on a bail application filed in court by five Red Pepper Directors and 3 editors.
Today, the state prosecutor from Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) has replied to the submissions of the applicants whereby he stated that they failed to prove that they have fixed places of abode within the jurisdiction of this court since they never attached any document to prove this.
He presented in court an affidavit sworn by Detective A/CP Isaac Okecho where he says that investigations are still underway thereby releasing them may lead to interfering with the investigations.
He pointed out that one of the accused Francis Tumusiime was convicted by the same court with offences of libel, in which he was sentenced to a Shs2 million shillings fine.
The situation at court Tuesday morning
“This is a serious case involving exposure of security of both Uganda and Rwanda,” the state prosecutor said.
However, in reply to this, the defense counsels led by Max Mutabingwa informed court that the mere fact that the state searched the applicant’s place of residence and it was indicated on charge sheet shows that their places are known clearly.
“There is no way how the accused can interfere with investigations when all their gadgets like computers, phones and others were handed over to the police at the same time when the Red Pepper premises are still sealed off by Police.”
He added that since the accused have not been convicted they can’t be treated as convicts that they committed a serious offence as alleged by prosecution.
“Basing on the charge sheet the offences against the applicants doesn’t tally with the law; the law states clearly that offences relating to security must include exposing military strength of the country.”
He further pointed out that since Tumusiime was convicted, there is a pending appeal and the state has not proved that he jumped bail since he attended the whole proceedings on bail.
Responding to this, the prosecutor asked for time to peruse through the documents which have been produced by some of the applicants to prove their places of residence and some of the sureties.
The magistrate has pushed the matter to 19th December 2017 to enable him peruse through the lengthy documents which have been submitted in court.
